6 Totally Accidental Wrestling Title Changes

1. Gene Kiniski Gets The Stipulation Wrong

Once considered American wrestling’s biggest prize, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship’s legacy was built by men like Lou Thesz and Pat O’Connor, who’d hold the gold for years at a time. It was an era of wrestling that almost seems alien in today’s environment, and there was an old rule stating that the belt could only change hands in 2 out of 3 falls matches, which saw many title fights stretch towards (and beyond) 60 minutes in length.

In 1969, Gene Kiniski wrestled Dory Funk Jr. under the assumption that this rule was in play. As per the man himself in WWE’s History Of The World Heavyweight Championship DVD, the original plan was that Kiniski would retain, so when Gene tapped to Funk’s spinning toe hold early in the match, he thought he was merely conceding the first fall.

Wrong.

The bout was actually booked as a rare single fall bout, and Kiniski suffered a lapse in judgement. Dory took his championship abruptly, but went on to hold it for a staggering 1,563 days. He was pencilled in to eventually take the belt from Kiniski later that year anyway, so really, Gene’s mistake only accelerated the inevitable, and the NWA ran with it.